


Forgiveness

by sturms_sun_shattered



Series: Rito Chronicles [8]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Forgiveness, Gen, Violence toward Monsters, warrior culture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25597897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sturms_sun_shattered/pseuds/sturms_sun_shattered
Summary: Mazli’s gossip had unfortunate consequences, but it was Gesane who paid the price for his careless talk.  Teba seeks to correct the habit of gossip in the warrior ranks with a gruelling expedition where everyone suffers for Mazli’s misdeed.Age of Intolerancemissing scene.
Series: Rito Chronicles [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757296
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	Forgiveness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Marnige](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marnige/gifts).



> Occurs between chapters 26 and 27 of _Age of Intolerance _. This is the first attempt at a Mazli POV.__

The world looked like a hellish nightmare from where Mazli stood. He had been blooded with the other novices in his cohort and fledged as a warrior soon after, but in his very short service Mazli had never seen such horrific violence. He hadn’t known that those who served with him had such brutality in their hearts—he both longed for and dreaded the day that he could look upon the burning bokoblin colonies with the same dispassion that Guy and Gesane did.

Now cleared of those vile creatures, the structure that they had set aflame roared and crackled in the relative silence of the moonless night. The snow which surrounded it had turned to mud in the rising heat and the smoke curled into the Hebra skies in a thick plume. One of the floors of the rachitic structure folded in on itself before collapsing entirely, sending a spray of cinders into the night air. Guy approached Mazli, feathered edge in hand. For a moment Mazli nearly thought to flee.

“I think you left this in something,” Guy said, neatly flipping the pommel toward him.

“How did you know it was mine?” Mazli asked, returning the blade to it’s sheath.

“Verla said it wasn’t his,” Guy shrugged.

They turned at the sound of Huck’s whoop. Of the mix of new warriors and novices on this expedition, only Huck seemed to be enjoying himself. This was supposed to be a lesson though, a reminder for the young warriors not to gossip. Teba seemed to be taking it quite personally, punishing everyone for something Mazli had thought was important to share. However, Mazli thought it wildly unfair to that Teba had excused Harth to remain in the village to brood his egg when it was he who had reacted in violence. Perhaps that was the benefit of a lifelong friendship with the First Warrior.

For Mazli, the knowledge that his vague words had left Gesane injured was reminder enough not to gossip. That and the panic he felt whenever Harth or Kass or Antilli or Amali passed him by, the worry that any of them might exact their vengeance upon him, the damage he had caused them—these thoughts kept Mazli awake into the night and were punishment enough. Unfortunately, Teba didn’t agree and Mazli’s shame was extended to his fellow warriors.

“One more tonight!” Teba called, rounding up the warriors.

Teba took to the air and Mazli watched as Verla and Mimo exchanged a look between them.

“C’mon,” Guy encouraged them, “Teba’s not going to let us rest until this is over.”

Gesane cast Mazli an inscrutable look before he, too, took to the air. Mazli suspected that Gesane had agreed to join this expedition so that he would not be noticed for his absence. Mazli desperately wished to apologize to him, but he didn’t know what to say. Words aside, Gesane seemed to be avoiding him and Mazli wasn’t prepared to issue an apology in front of everyone.

Mazli pushed off into the sky with the rest of the warriors and followed Teba deeper into the unending cold of Hebra. Below them, bokoblins, lizalfos and moblins gathered around campfires that dotted the landscape, but Teba was not interested in such small quarry. Mazli knew that Teba had long sought to burn down every one of those wooden constructions—punishing this cohort merely offered him the perfect opportunity to do so.

Mazli started and had to catch himself as he felt someone ram into him from the side.

“Get out of my wingspan, Mimo,” he warned.

“Everyone knows it was you,” Mimo told him, “you’re the only one who’d be stupid enough to set off Harth.”

Mazli veered away from the conflict, not failing to see the irony that everyone else had gotten this information through idle chatter as well.

Teba circled them above a three-level moblin camp west of South Hebra Summit. The structure was draped in rank furs and faded banners. Mazli wondered for a moment how these monster might live if left to their own devices then shook his head. He was a warrior; he couldn’t have room in his heart for such softness.

“Guy, Gesane, I want you above this thing; take out the sentries,” Teba ordered, “Verla set a fire. Everyone else is ground support. Let’s get this burning before they wake up.”

As Verla set a fire, the warriors wrapped their arrows with oil-dampened rags. Their first two volleys peppered the structure with points of fire. As some began to catch and spread the warriors took to the air, harrying the howling moblins with arrows. Hearing the pained hollers of the beasts as their clothes and bodies were beset with flame, Mazli made sure his aim was true. Better to put them out of their misery, he thought, they would only respawn angrier.

As they completed the task they landed to meet with Teba. Mazli tried hard not to stare at where Gesane stood with his wing wrapped around his ribs. Other than Gesane’s not yet healed ribs, the only other injury to speak of was a few singed feathers on Verla’s wing—of course, that had been Huck’s fault.

“We continue deeper into Hebra tomorrow,” said Teba, “for now, set up camp.”

The ground dipped a little, not far from the still-burning moblin colony. Rocks that jutted up from the snow and frosty spruce trees served to cut the wind, and the group of young warriors began to set up camp. Mazli glanced at Gesane, hoping that he might perhaps catch him alone, though he still hadn’t quite worked out what he might say. As Mazli gathered dried branches from beneath some spruce trees, he realized it would be impossible to speak to Gesane without Guy present—the two had been inseparable as long as Mazli had known them.

“Huck...Goddess, you vent,” Mazli cursed as Huck checked him bodily and the branches he had gathered fell back into the snow.

“That’s for me getting second watch,” said Huck, “otherwise, I can’t say I mind cooking up a little moblin meat...a little break from the shop.”

“Why are you speaking to me?” asked Mazli in irritation.

Huck jerked his head toward the camp. Gesane sat stiffly back against the rocks, his beak clenched and his wing wrapped around his ribs. Guy knelt in front of him, his hand moving comfortingly on Gesane’s shoulder. The sight stirred something painful in Mazli, though he couldn’t discern whether it was guilt for what he had caused or jealousy that he had no such bonds in his life.

“What d’you think they get up to?” asked Huck suggestively.

“You have to pervert everything, don’t you?” grumbled Mazli as he collected the fallen branches.

“Oh come on...”

“Go away, Huck. I don’t want to talk to you any more than anyone else does.”

“You may find that same sentiment directed at you, given it’s your fault we’re freezing our tail-feathers off,” Huck warned as he strode off.

Mazli collected the last of the fallen branches and brought them to where Verla crouched by the fire. Verla glanced at him but said nothing. It seemed that Mazli really was going to be treated as Huck, though he had never bullied the other Rito as Huck had. Though, perhaps after this he was just as deserving.

Mazli grit his beak and took a few cautious steps toward Guy and Gesane. They were his fellow warriors after all, and each had take a vow not to abandon their fellow warriors. What did Huck know anyway? He had never been fully fledged.

“Gesane,” Mazli started awkwardly.

Gesane looked up and Guy turned his head. Apologizing in front of Guy couldn’t be that bad; he was notoriously even-tempered.

“It’s not a very good time right now, Mazli,” said Guy.

“Yeah, of course,” said Mazli as he backed away from them.

Mazli found himself sitting alone for most of the night, shivering with no one to put his back to. He glanced over to where Mimo and Verla had begrudgingly fallen asleep close together in some sort of awkward coalition. They had been in his cohort, but Mazli had taken his warrior trials early. Since they remained novices and Mazli had become a freshly fledged warrior, he had felt the gap in their experiences open up between himself and his former friends.

As Huck stood watch, Teba fell asleep against the rocks, seemingly unbothered by the cold. Guy had wrapped his wings around Gesane and the two had fallen asleep quite comfortably together. Perhaps there was something to what Huck had suggested, but Mazli found he didn’t much care.

When Huck’s watch ended, he woke Mimo for his watch and sat down beside Mazli.

“The point of having someone on watch is that you’re supposed to sleep,” Huck said as he settled back against the rock.

“I tried,” sighed Mazli.

“You should probably keep trying; Teba’s not going to let this go until he’s rid the world of monsters” Huck said as he wrapped himself in his wings and settled in for sleep.

oOo

Verla was the first to break under the pressure. 

On the second night they cleared another three colonies. The last was near at hot spring between the Hebra North Summit and Hebra West Summit. After a moblin wreathed in flame and howling in pain, ran from the burning structure, Teba had stepped in to end its miserable existence. Mazli was horrified by the sight, but it was Verla who sank down into the snow and wept.

“Get him up,” Teba snapped, the flames of the crumbling wooden structure glinting off of the metal inlay of his cuirass.

Guy stepped in to pull Verla back to his feet. He clapped him on the shoulder and reminded him that monsters weren’t people, and kept a wing around his shoulders as the group retreated to the hot spring to cleanse the ash from their feathers. Mazli wasn’t sure he would have even noticed how the debris had built up on them if it weren’t for the soot that settled in patches across Teba’s white plumage.

When he stripped off his leather cuirass, Mazli could see the line where his feathers beneath remained clean and cringed in disgust. He waded into the shallow spring, his body registering warmth for the first time in days as he scrubbed the grit from his feathers. Huck came to stand beside him. He had become an unwelcome shadow wherever Mazli seemed to go and Mazli wondered if he should just give in and become the outcast that followed after the bully.

“Did he do that when you were blooded?” Huck asked, gesturing with a slight tilt of his head toward Verla.

“Do what?”

“Cry over the monsters?”

“I don’t think it was over the monsters,” said Mazli.

Verla had fallen to pieces, but Mazli had managed to keep himself together until he returned home after their first kills. Though he had wept in his hammock that night about his misconceptions of the role of a warrior. Mazli would have staked his life that Mimo had also fallen apart when he returned home.

“You’re all soft,” said Huck, “there were bets that the crier in our cohort would be Gesane, but he seemed fine. It was Guy.”

Mazli splashed some water over his face and head and glanced over at the rest of the warriors, similarly sluicing the hot water through their filthy feathers. Verla had regained control of himself and Guy seemed as perfectly at ease as he always did.

“Why are we talking about this?” asked Mazli asked, swiping a few water droplets from his beak.

“What else are we going to talk about?”

“Just seems to run counter to the lesson that Teba wants us to learn,” said Mazli wryly.

“You’re the only one who needs to learn it. You’re lucky he doesn’t make an example of you.”

“Why did you never take the warrior trials?” Mazli needled.

“I don’t need to be a warrior,” scoffed Huck, “I have a trade. Dying for the village is something for Rito without skill.”

“Sounds like you thought you were bound to fail.”

“I could pass it any time I choose.”

“If you say so.”

“And what does your honour really mean to you anyway?” asked Huck, “You think anyone cares about Kyvoro or Genik or anyone who fell before them?”

Mazli blinked in surprise; it was a callous remark, even for Huck.

“Their memories are still honoured,” Mazli said.

“But what good is the honour of dying in defence of your village if you’re dead?”

“What good is leather working if you don’t have warriors to buy your wears?”

“You know what I like about you, Mazli?” nodded Huck, “you’ve got a smart beak on you.”

Mazli watched as Huck waded out of the water and shook the droplets from his feathers. The more he spoke to Huck, the less Mazli wanted to do with him.

oOo

They had made their way south along the the Hebra West Summit, taking out three camps along the way. Teba had run them ragged, and even Huck had stopped chiming in with his usual unpleasant quips. Yet another structure burned before them. As the flames whipped about in the heavy blizzard, the warriors stood transfixed by the sight, trying to catch their breath.

Mazli watched Mimo drop to his knees on the snow-covered ground. Mimo panted heavily as the wind whipped at his braids and Mazli approached him, his wing outstretched. Unsurprisingly, Mimo characteristically slapped the offer away and glared up at Mazli. 

“You think we’re finished?” Teba shouted, rounding on them, “we have another camp in the foothills to see to! This will be a lesson you won’t soon unlearn—”

“Stop!” Mazli shouted at Teba.

Teba stared at him, his dark eyebrows lowered in aggravation. Around them, the other warriors wore looks of astonishment that Mazli would so boldly balk at an order from the First Warrior.

“Everyone knows it was me,” said Mazli, his guilt and exhaustion surfacing in burning tears that blurred his vision, “stop punishing them on my account.”

Teba stood impassively—no doubt warriors weeping on the field of brutal victory was an unexpected development for him. The warriors remained silent and frozen in their shock, though Huck hung back, a look of amusement on his face.

Mazli stumbled through the snow toward Gesane, his tears nearly blinding him as he fought to choke them back. He didn’t quite make it there before he crumbled to his knees into the snow, unable to hold back the sob that had built in his chest, even as his fellow warriors stared in horrified surprise at his loss of control.

“Gesane,” he wept, “I”m sorry! I’m so sorry...I never meant for you to get hurt.”

Mazli didn’t even move to stem the flow of tears as he sobbed in the snow, his fellow warriors’ eyes upon him. He was beyond caring what the likes of Huck or Mimo might think of him; all he wanted was for Gesane to speak to him again. Gesane stood frozen before him, his expression registering was Mazli assumed had to be disgust at this unseemly display. 

“Go,” Guy urged Gesane, encouraging him forward with a sight push, “resolve this.”

“Mazli,” he sighed as he stepped forward.

“I didn’t mean for this,” Mazli sobbed, clutching Gesane’s wing, “you needn’t forgive me but you must know I’m sorry.”

“Stand up,” said Gesane under his breath as he pulled sharply on Mazli’s wing.

Whiffling and gasping back his tears, Mazli stood, knowing how pathetic he must sound. Gesane gripped his elbow in a warrior’s exchange and Mazli wept fresh tears as he returned the gesture.

“You’ve made such a fool of yourself,” Gesane whispered, “I can only take that to mean you are sincere in your regret.”

Mazli nodded sucking in his breath in an unflattering gasp. Gesane reached out his free wing and pulled Mazli into a careful embrace. Mazli pressed his forehead to Gesane’s shoulder, still weeping.

“You have my forgiveness.”

**Author's Note:**

> Dear Marnige,
> 
> I needed to take a break from _The Chronicler_ so I thought I’d write you a one-shot.
> 
> You’ve asked about Mazli and Gesane and the mood struck me...I know this is probably not quite what you were hoping for, but you get some bonus background. I hope you enjoy it anyway :)
> 
> -Sun


End file.
